Understanding Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

Vitamin B12 is important for your brain function and for the production of red blood cells.
Vitamin deficiency, meaning you don’t have enough of it, can be caused by several reasons. If you are a vegetarian, especially vegan, you may not be eating enough B12, so a deficiency has developed. In addition, with age, it can become harder to absorb this vitamin. If you had a weight loss surgery, or you have a malabsorption disorder like Crohn’s or Celiac disease, you might develop a deficiency because you body is not absorbing enough vitamins.

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Signs & symptoms

A deficiency in B12 might cause your blood cell count to go down- a low red blood cell count will cause anemia and weakness.
Vitamin B12 deficiency might also cause numbness in your feet and palms, wobbly walk and memory problems.

Diagnosis

Blood test- to check your blood count, and your vitamin levels.

Treatment

If you don’t eat enough B12, you can either change your diet to include more vitamins or start taking vitamin B12 supplements.

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

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Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital